UFC 110

Lore & Background

Before UFC 110, the promotion had never sanctioned a women's fight. The idea of female competitors in the Octagon was still met with skepticism by much of the fanbase and the broader combat-sports world. The UFC, under Dana White's leadership, chose to break that barrier with a four-fighter strawweight tournament, a format that let the organization test the waters while still delivering a clear champion. Miesha Tate, a former UFC Welterweight contender who had made the weight cut for 115 pounds, outlasted the field to become the first woman to wear a UFC championship belt. The moment was broadcast to a global audience and is still cited as a watershed for women's MMA. The men's card was equally consequential. Fabricio Werdum, the reigning heavyweight champion, faced Junior dos Santos, a former champion who had been knocked out of the title picture. Dos Santos controlled the fight and stopped Werdum to reclaim the heavyweight belt. In the co-main event, Rashad Evans, a well-regarded but under-the-radar fighter, dispatched Matt Hamill to seize the light heavyweight championship. Two title changes in one night, both in the heavyweight and light-heavyweight divisions, gave the card a rare density of championship action. In the broader narrative of UFC history, UFC 110 sits at the intersection of two eras: the late-2000s heavyweight golden age and the dawn of women's competition in the promotion. It is the event where the Octagon's doors officially opened to women, and where two of the sport's biggest divisions saw their thrones change hands in a single evening.

In Their Own Story

The MGM Grand Garden Arena hummed with a different kind of electricity that night. The cameras cut between the heavyweight title fight and the strawweight tournament, and for a few minutes the broadcast lingered on the four women standing in the cage, their gloves taped, their faces set. The crowd noise was a low, uncertain roar—half anticipation, half disbelief. When Miesha Tate slipped through a takedown and ground out the final submission, the arena exhaled. She raised her arms, and for the first time in UFC history, a woman stood in the center of the Octagon as champion. Across the arena, in the back of the cage, Junior dos Santos was already celebrating his own belt. Two champions, one night, and a door that would never close again.

Reader's Guide

UFC 110 | April 10, 2010 | MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, NV Headline: Junior dos Santos def. Fabricio Werdum (UFC Heavyweight Championship)

• First women's bout in UFC history: a four-fighter strawweight (115 lb) tournament crowned Miesha Tate as the promotion's first female champion. • Two title changes on one card: Dos Santos stopped Werdum for the heavyweight belt, and Rashad Evans defeated Matt Hamill for the light heavyweight title. • The card featured a rare density of championship action across two of the sport's largest weight classes in a single evening. • The women's tournament format let the UFC introduce female competition while still producing a definitive winner, a model that would inform the women's divisions that followed.

Did You Know?

• UFC 110 was the first event in UFC history to feature a women's fight, with a four-fighter strawweight tournament determining the first UFC women's champion.
• Two UFC titles changed hands on the same card: the Heavyweight Championship (Dos Santos over Werdum) and the Light Heavyweight Championship (Evans over Hamill).
• Miesha Tate, who had previously competed at welterweight, made the weight cut to strawweight (115 lbs) to compete in the historic tournament.
• The event took place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, a venue that has hosted numerous UFC title fights but never before a women's bout.